Architecture Repository
Write-ups, projects, and the notes I take chasing certifications.
A working archive of how things are designed and why. Posts are one-off write-ups. Series dig into a larger topic across multiple posts.
40 posts
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Azure Storage Explorer and AzCopy
The two tools for moving data in and out of Azure Storage: attaching Storage Explorer to accounts you don't own, AzCopy's command set, and which service endpoint each command needs.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure Managed Disks: Ultra, Premium SSD v2, and Standard
The five managed disk types and what separates them on size, IOPS, and OS-disk eligibility, plus the four encryption options — including Azure Disk Encryption's retirement on 15 September 2028, after which ADE disks fail to unlock on reboot.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure File Sync and Cloud Tiering
How Azure File Sync turns a Windows Server into a cache of an Azure file share, what cloud tiering replaces local files with, and the three components you need to set synchronisation up.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure Files: SMB, NFS, and Choosing a Share Tier
The two Azure Files management models, the SSD and HDD media tiers with their three billing models, and the protocol and redundancy constraints that decide between them — including why Azure Files can't read from the secondary of an RA-GRS account.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Securing Azure Storage: Access Keys, SAS, and Entra ID
The four ways to authorise a request against Azure Storage, why a leaked SAS token can only be revoked by rotating the account key, and how stored access policies fix that.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure Blob Lifecycle Management Rules
How to automate moving blobs between access tiers and deleting them on a schedule: rule scope and filters, last-modified versus last-accessed triggers, and why rules can't rehydrate archived blobs or tier data in premium block blob accounts.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure Blob Access Tiers: Hot, Cool, Cold, and Archive
How the four blob access tiers trade storage cost against access cost, the minimum retention periods and prorated early deletion charges, and the two Archive constraints: no zone-redundant accounts, and it can't be an account's default tier.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure Blob Storage: Block, Page, and Append Blobs
The three blob types and what each is for, how containers organise them, and what enabling the hierarchical namespace turns Blob Storage into — including how POSIX ACLs work there and why the Reader, Contributor, and Owner roles bypass them for read access.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure Storage Redundancy: LRS, ZRS, GRS, and GZRS
The six Azure Storage redundancy options and what each one actually survives — from a single drive failure to a region-wide outage — plus the paired-region, failover, and read-access constraints that decide between them.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks -
Azure Storage Account Types and Performance Tiers
What an Azure storage account actually is: the five services it contains, the four account kinds, and why the performance tier and account kind are one-way doors you can't change after creation.
☰ Part of Azure Storage: Accounts, Blobs, Files, and Disks